Consciousness and the Social Brain

Michael S. A. Graziano

Description

What is consciousness and how can a brain, a mere collection of neurons, create it? In Consciousness and the Social Brain, Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano lays out an audacious new theory to account for the deepest mystery of them all. The human brain has evolved a complex circuitry that allows it to be socially intelligent. This social machinery has only just begun to be studied in detail. One function of this circuitry is to attribute awareness to others: to compute that person Y is aware of thing X. In Graziano's theory, the machinery that attributes awareness to others also attributes it to oneself. Damage that machinery and you disrupt your own awareness. Graziano discusses the science, the evidence, the philosophy, and the surprising implications of this new theory.

Consciousness and the Social Brain

Michael S. A. Graziano

Table of Contents

Part I: The Theory Chapter 1: The magic trick Chapter 2: Introducing the theory Chapter 3: Awareness as information Chapter 4: Being aware versus knowing that you are aware Chapter 5: The attention schemaChapter 6: Illusions and mythsChapter 7: Social attentionChapter 8: How do I distinguish my awareness from yours?Chapter 9: Some useful complexities

Part II: Comparison to previous theories and resultsChapter 10: Social theories of consciousnessChapter 11: Consciousness as integrated informationChapter 12: Neural correlates of consciousnessChapter 13: Awareness and the machinery for social perceptionChapter 14: The neglect syndromeChapter 15: Multiple interlocking functions of the brain area TPJChapter 16: Simulating other mindsChapter 17: Some spiritual mattersChapter 18: Explaining the magic trick

Consciousness and the Social Brain

Michael S. A. Graziano

Author Information

Michael S. A. Graziano, Professor of Neuroscience at Princeton University, is an internationally renowned scientist and an award-winning novelist. His books include the popular science book God, Soul, Mind, Brain and the short novels The Divine Farce, The Love Song of Monkey, and Death My Own Way.

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Consciousness and the Social Brain

Michael S. A. Graziano

Reviews and Awards

"Graziano proposes a new and intriguing theory of consciousness.. Graziano guides readers step-by-step through his captivating and convincing theory of consciousness, explaining how the theory accounts for many oddities in human perception. This book is an essential read for anyone interested in consciousness from either a scientific or philosophical perspective." -- Library Journal

"The author offers an engaging and accessible explanation of his theory. Rather than merely touting its merits, he aims to show how it is compatible with other popular theories. Avoiding technical details, he uses anecdotes, drawings, and metaphors to convey an understanding of the important concepts. [Consciousness and the Social Brain] turns the field's contemporary wisdom on its head, and from its new vantage point one has the sense that an answer to the problem of consciousness might be in sight. Graziano's attention schema theory marks a milestone by offering a plausible, mechanistic answer to the hard problem." --Aaron Schurger, Science Magazine

"Well known for his work on the motor cortex, Graziano is a newcomer to the field of consciousness research. His ideas and approach here are outliers in the theoretical arena, but that makes Consciousness and the Social Brain all the more intriguing. It turns the field's contemporary wisdom on its head, and from its new vantage point one has the sense that an answer to the problem of consciousness might be in sight." --Science

Consciousness and the Social Brain

Michael S. A. Graziano

From Our Blog

Michael S. A. Graziano Each one of us has an inner feeling, an experience that is private. Consciousness, awareness, qualia, mind, call it what you will, it is the subtle distinction between merely computing information and feeling.